Military Review English Edition November December 2016 | Page 59

CONTRACT SUPPORT

To avoid delays and better integrate OCS at the operational level, joint doctrine recommends establishment
of an OCS integration cell within geographic combatant commands, joint task forces, and service–component-command staffs. Doctrinally, the OCS integration
cell leads OCS planning and execution oversight across
the joint force and serves as the primary hub for OCSrelated information, including data from the contract
integration and validation process.22 This OCS common
operating picture provides visibility, enabling the commander to anticipate and integrate OCS solutions within
his or her larger operational design.
Ignorance is not bliss. To put it bluntly, OCS is the
wrong area to accept risk. OCS has its own rules, regulations, processes, and procedures. These can be cumbersome and complex, but they are designed to ensure good
stewardship of taxpayers’ money, a critical task in the
current fiscal environment.
Moreover, each commander has an obligation to
establish an ethical climate. This obligation often comes
into direct conflict with the constant temptation to cut
MILITARY REVIEW  November-December 2016

Personnel distribute U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID) hygiene kits at a cholera treatment center 28 October 2010
in Verrettes in the Artibonite department of Haiti. Existing commercial-shipping contracts allowed for rapid distribution of critical supplies during the crisis. (Photo by Kendra Helmer, USAID)

corners in order to expedite OCS activities. Commanders
who learn and enforce the rules will prevent fraud, waste,
and abuse, while avoiding embarrassment, distractions,
and adverse administrative and legal actions.23
Conversely, commanders should not blindly accept lengthy and bureaucratic staffing procedures that
interfere with effective decisions regarding OCS. Parallel
planning, running estimates, staff assistance visits, and
web-based information sharing will improve knowledge
management across the force while enabling subordinate
commanders to acquire the necessary decisions, funding,
and contract support to accomplish their missions.24

What Right Looks Like
On 25 April 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake devastated the nation of Nepal, destroying homes, damaging
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